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We know buying a laptopwhether for yourself or someone elsecan be difficult, especially with so many great products on the market today. Whittling down your choices can be frustrating and time consuming. Well, worry no more. We have you covered. We've selected our five current top-rated favorites from the manufacturers you already know and love. One is sure to suit your needs perfectly.

When choosing a laptop, there are a few things you should know. First, how portable does it need to be: Will it primarily sit on a desk in your home office and not move? Will it roam with you from room to room? Will it accompany you on your frequent trips? If the latter is true, weight and screen size will be a major consideration. For roaming around the house, you'll want something mid range, say 6 to 7 pounds max, and a screen no larger than 15.4 inches. If you're a serious frequent flyer, you'll want to go even smaller. Our current favorite is the Toshiba Portégé R200: It weighs just 2.7 pounds.

If you'll be using the laptop more for business than pleasure, you'll want to make sure it's reliable and has top security features like TPM or even a fingerprint reader. The IBM ThinkPad T43 is an excellent choice. Though it won't wow you with its multimedia capabilities, it'll help you stay productive and secure in and out of the office.

If price is your main concern, our first word of advice is don't be sucked in by the super low prices swirling around your Sunday circulars. You cannot get a quality laptop that will last for less than $500. You can, however, get a great laptop for anywhere from $800 to $1,000. To achieve those ultra-low prices you see in the circulars, systems are typically cheated. They'll have tiny hard drives, say 20GB, and only 128MB of memory, which isn't even enough, really, to run the OS at its best. System must-haves when shopping the value category (get a pen, write it down): 512MB memory, 40GB hard drive, a DVD/RW combo drive, and 802.11g wireless. If a system you're looking at doesn't have the above features, seriously reconsider purchasing it. Our favorite value system, the Dell Inspiron 6000, blew us away with its offerings and its low price.

If you want to join the digital media craze, there are plenty of laptops to choose from, all boasting a better media experience then the next. A widescreenpreferably, one that has glossy treatment for movie watchingshould top your priority list, as should having the latest Media Center 2005 OS. (Though many will try to lure you with proprietary software, none can compete, save for Sony's VAIO Zone, with Media Center Edition.) Many of these laptops, like our current favorite, the relatively inexpensive HP Pavilion dv4000, let you record TV, archive and edit your photos, organize your music, and even play games. But not every multimedia system does all these things well, so think about what you want to do and go from there. Also note, if TV and video is at the top of your list, opt for the largest hard drive you can, which is currently 100GB found on the Sony Vaio FS-570. (It won't be long before you're hunting down external drives, trust us.)

By now should have an idea, at least, of what type of system you're interested in, and if not, no worries, we have a slew of laptop buying information to help you along. To make it even easier, we've organized our top favorites in an easy-to-scan table, so you can comparison shop for your laptop.

Toshiba Portégé R200
The size of a legal pad, it takes up little briefcase room and is ideal for frequent flyers.

IBM ThinkPad T43
For the busy business man, added security and reliability make the T43 a great choice

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